Into the Fire

If you like baseball, you know errors are often disastrous for the team committing them and embarrassing for the player who makes them. Major league players making key mistakes can cost them the game. They're unacceptable, disappointing, and distressing when they happen at critical moments. The crowds tend to react unfavorably with unified groans or worse. Errors are the bane of baseball.

Well, errors can be the bane of fiction too. I'm not talking about typos and other mistakes which are found too frequently in printed and e-books these days. Although annoying to see them, I'm speaking of those errors which give the reader an unpleasant jolt of disbelief. Suddenly a character acts like someone other than who he's been portrayed to be for most of the story. A tool is available in the nick of time where no tool should ever be. An angel appears to save a person when there's been no hint of spiritual references in the story. The "deus ex machina" plot device can scream "Error!" to sophisticated readers who don't tolerate mediocrity in storytelling.

Writers strive to avoid error-free fiction, but it isn't as easy as it might seem. We do find ourselves in difficult situations in our stories which demand a sound resolution. The problem is we can't find one so we tend to invent something to give a quick and even logical solution. However, the "solution" isn't plausible. It's too convenient, too easy, too . . . unbelievable.

Do you use a particular method to avoid these kinds of errors? And have you read novels which failed to correct them?

Father, we need your assistance in all things. Big or small. With all that we do. We're desperate for you, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.